Filling The Emptiness
by HeavenzDevil
Summary: A secret kept from Draco by his father is revealed when Draco receives a letter telling him he must go to a secret house with the trio because Voldemort is after him, his family, the trio, and – Lily and James Potter?!
1. Prologue

Title: Filling The Emptiness  
  
Author: HeavenzDevil  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: A secret kept from Draco by his father is revealed when Draco receives a letter telling him he must go to a secret house with the trio because Voldemort is after him, his family, the trio, and - Lily and James Potter?! A fic where Lily and James are alive, Lucius and Narcissa are not Death Eaters, and Draco and Harry are learning a LOT of new things about each other.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and the rest of the characters do not belong to me. But may I point out that my story does not belong to you, so there!  
  
WARNINGL: This story is about love between two boys. If you find this wrong, disgusting, or gross, I would highly suggest not reading this. Don't flame me for something you have been warned about.  
  
Author Notes: I submitted this once before, but with a different summary, which didn't really attract readers. So I tried a different summary, which I am hoping will get more readers. The rating on this story right now is PG- 13 but it could get higher in later chapters.  
  
Filling The Emptiness - Prologue  
  
"The News"  
  
Draco Malfoy knew that his parents were hiding something from him. He had known this ever since he was young, when he had spotted his father tapping his wand on the wall and seeing the wall open up to a small passage where his father took down a basket of food and blankets deep into the dungeons. At the time, Draco was only five years old, and was a curious boy so he followed his father down the corridor and stopped when he heard hushed whispers. He couldn't hear what they said, but they sounded anxious and afraid. He could pick out his father's voice and two unknown voices, one male, one female. He heard the female start to cry and his father and the other male try to console her, so he went back up the passage and to his room, confused this.  
  
Now Draco was fifteen years old and a fifth year at Hogwarts, and he sat at the Slytherin House Table, watching his black eagle owl soar toward him through the Great Hall. Draco felt that this owl was bringing bad news. He could sense it, almost as an instinct, and when the owl landed and stuck out his leg for Draco to take the note, Draco warily reached out for the piece of parchment, unfolding it slowly and carefully. The note was short, but he could easily recognize his father's tidy script. He took a deep breath before starting to read.  
  
Dear Draco,  
  
I haven't got much time, but I have so much to explain. I wish I had told you sooner, but I couldn't bring myself to. Listen to me; Lily and James Potter are alive. Your mother and I are not on the Dark Side and have been working with Severus Snape as spies. Voldemort has found out about this and he also knows that he did not successfully kill the Potters. He is after us, so we are now in hiding with them, but I cannot tell you where. Headmaster Dumbledore knows of the situation as well, and, seeing Voldemort is most likely after you also, you will be tutored privately outside of Hogwarts in the hideout of Mr. Remus Lupin. Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger will be with you also. Lupin knows where we are hiding and will bring the four of you to us when he thinks it is safe. All of this will be explained in due time, for now you will just have to trust me.  
  
~Father  
  
Draco felt his hands start to tremble uncontrollably, and he got up from his seat. He walked over to the Gryffindor Table. Stopping near Harry, Hermione, and Ron, he said, "Potter. Weasley. Granger. Follow me, now."  
  
The trio seemed to know something was not right, so they stood up and followed him silently out of the hall.  
  
Up and down the Hogwarts corridors they went, until they reached a painting of a large fruit bowl. Draco heard gasps of surprise from the three behind him when he tickled the pear in the fruit bowl, and the portrait swung open. He raised an eyebrow at them, and then followed the corridor into the kitchens, where they could talk without being disturbed.  
  
As Draco sat down at a table, gesturing for the other three to sit down, he started to speak, without the usual malice, but in a blank tone.  
  
"I got a letter from my father this morning," Draco said.  
  
Three pairs of eyes stared at him, urging him along.  
  
Draco couldn't even speak. He yanked the letter out of his pocket and thrust it towards the three teenagers opposite him. Hermione warily pulled it to her and started to read, Harry and Ron looking over her shoulder.  
  
Ron was first to finish, and jumped up, slammed his fist on the table, and started to scream furiously.  
  
"YOU EXPECT US TO BELIEVE THIS SHIT?! YOUR PROBABLY JUST TRYING TO LURE HARRY AWAY FROM HOGWARTS SO YOU AND YOUR DEATH EATER FATHER CAN FEED HIM TO VOLDEMORT!!!"  
  
"Ron, calm down!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling Ron back into a sitting position, Ron wiping away spit from his mouth and glaring evilly at Draco.  
  
Harry had just finished reading the letter, and was now staring at Draco, a look of mixed confusion and intrigue upon his tanned features. "Are you. serious?" Harry asked. "It's all true?"  
  
Draco looked at him and nodded solemnly. "I knew they were hiding something from me, I've known a long time. I just never knew it would be something this big and important. Something that puts me and the three of you in lots of danger." Draco looked upwards and got a faraway look in his eyes, as he sat there, thinking about what exactly was going on.  
  
"Harry! You can't believe this git! He's a sneaky Slytherin, it's all a trap!" Ron tried to convince Harry. But it wasn't working.  
  
"Ron, I know it seems a little bit farfetched, but I believe him. It's just. something is telling me that this is true. And Ron, you have no idea what it's like to live without parents, and if mine are alive, I want to find them."  
  
Ron sighed. "Alright, Harry, I'm with you. I still don't trust him - " Ron was cut off by Draco's voice.  
  
"And you have a right not to. But if Dumbledore knows, then it's obviously true. Why don't we go ask him about it?" Draco said.  
  
"I think that's a great idea," Hermione put in. "If it's not true, then we know that Malfoy and his father are up to something and we can protect you from it," she added softly to Ron and Harry.  
  
"Ok," Harry and Ron said in unison to Hermione, as they got up from the table and followed Draco out of the kitchens and to Dumbledore's office. 


	2. Explanations

Title: Filling The Emptiness  
  
Author: HeavenzDevil  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: A secret kept from Draco by his father is revealed when Draco receives a letter telling him he must go to a secret house with the trio because Voldemort is after him, his family, the trio, and - Lily and James Potter?! A fic where Lily and James are alive, Lucius and Narcissa are not Death Eaters, and Draco and Harry are learning a LOT of new things about each other.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and the rest of the characters do not belong to me. But may I point out that my story does not belong to you, so there!  
  
WARNING: This story is about love between two boys. If you find this wrong, disgusting, or gross, I would highly suggest not reading this. Don't flame me for something you have been warned about.  
  
Author Notes: The rating on this story right now is PG-13 but it could get higher in later chapters. Thanks a bunch to my beta readers Expelliarmus, CrisyGrl, and RedLotus for all their help. This story would not exist without them. I luv u guys!  
  
Filling The Emptiness - Part I  
  
"Explanations"  
  
With Hermione leading the way, the four went through the Hogwarts corridors and to the statue of the gargoyle.  
  
"Ok, Dumbledore always names his passwords the names of Muggle candy," Harry said. "How about. Snickers?"  
  
"Skittles?" Hermione offered.  
  
"Peanut M&M's," Draco said with finality.  
  
The gargoyle sprung to the side, opening up to a winding staircase. Draco went first, Harry next, and Ron and Hermione in the rear, talking in hushed voices to each other. At the top of the staircase there was a door, slightly ajar. Draco knocked his hand on it, softly, and he heard the gentle voice of the Headmaster calling them in.  
  
They each took a seat in a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. He regarded them quizzically and said, "What seems to be the problem?"  
  
Draco, who was holding the letter in his hand, pushed it across the desk and toward Dumbledore.  
  
"Is this some sort of a hoax? Or is it the real thing?" Draco asked, showing real curiosity.  
  
Dumbledore's eyes skimmed through the letter, and then he focused them on the four teenagers in front of him.  
  
"This," Dumbledore began, "Is no hoax. This is the real thing, and I have known about it ever since the night Lily and James were supposedly dead. I remember what happened as if it were just yesterday."  
  
IIt was a dark night, it was raining out and every so often, a clap of thunder could be heard, a flash of lightning could be seen. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Narcissa, Severus, Arabella, and Lucius were sitting in the Potter's living room, Lily with baby Harry on her lap, playing cards.  
  
The eight of them had been best friends for a very long time, ever since their first year at Hogwarts. But since Narcissa, Lucius, and Severus were in Slytherin, they were forced to pretend to hate each other, be cruel to each other, and play mean pranks on each other.  
  
When they had all graduated from Hogwarts, Narcissa, Lucius, and Severus were planning on spying for me, and were going to become Death Eaters. The remaining five begged them to stay, but they said it was something they were going to have to do.  
  
When James and Lily got married, Narcissa was the Maid of Honor, Arabella was one of the bridesmaids, Lucius, Severus, and Remus were the ushers, and Sirius was the best man. When Harry was born, they were all in the waiting room, pacing nervously, waiting for the news.  
  
Now, they all sat around the table, playing cards, and trying to act like it was a normal night.  
  
As the clock struck 8:00, Lucius said, "Lily, James, and Harry will need to take the potion now. Lord Voldemort knows nothing of it; we did the research in private. The potion will prevent you from being killed by Avada Kedavra, but you must pretend that it had killed you, do you understand?"  
  
James nodded, and Lily held Harry tighter in her arms, but nodded anyway. Severus produced the potion from a pocket in his robes, and handed it to James. "Just take the potion, and it will last for a good four hours, seeing as we only know Voldemort will come some time between 9:00 and midnight."  
  
James drank the potion, then handed it to Lily, who tipped Harry's head back and poured a little of it in his mouth before drinking some herself.  
  
"I'm sorry, James, Lily, but we are going to have to leave you now," Sirius said, one hour later.  
  
"Lucius and Narcissa will hide you at the manor until it is time to tell Harry that you two have lived. Harry will go to your sister and her family," Remus said to Lily.  
  
"Petunia? She hates him, you can't leave my baby with her!" Lily exclaimed, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes.  
  
"But we have to, Lil, it's the only option," Narcissa told her. "Lucius and I will hide in the bushes then come in and get you as soon as we are sure Voldemort is gone, ok?"  
  
Lily and James nodded again, and Harry made a gurgling noise.  
  
"And I'll be watching Harry for you both when he comes to Hogwarts, because I'll be teaching there," said Severus, trying to console his friends.  
  
Lily started to cry as she hugged all her friends, telling them how much she would miss them all. Then she pulled out a small pocket knife and said to them all, "Even if we never see each other again, we will always be with each other." She motioned for them to stand in a circle. "I'm going to hand around the knife, slit your palms and then pass the knife along. When we are all done, we are going to place our hands together and think of all the good times we have had, alright?"  
  
Everyone nodded, taking deep breathes now and then, each of them fighting the tears they wanted so badly to cry. When they all had slits in their hands, they put them together, thinking of good times.  
  
Lily thought about the day she became James' girlfriend, James thought about the day he and Lily got married, Sirius thought about when he and Remus first got together, Remus thought about how his friends hadn't left him when he told them he was a werewolf, Arabella thought about when she and Severus had to do a potions report together which led them to dating and finally marriage, Severus thought of Arabella and her wonderful smile and bright eyes, Lucius thought about the day on the train that they first met, all instantly clicking, and Narcissa thought about the baby shower her friends had thrown when she found out she was pregnant with her son, who was at the present time at the manor being taken care of by the house elves.  
  
After at least a minute, they lifted their heads and Lily started to cry all over again, telling all her friends again how much she would miss them. Sirius, Remus, Arabella, and Severus were the first to leave, promising that they would see them again someday.  
  
"We will come back for you," said Narcissa.  
  
"We promise," Lucius added.  
  
"Thanks you guys, we owe you our lives," James said, shaking Lucius' hand then pulling him into a hug.  
  
"Yeah, thank you so much for doing this for us," said Lily, giving Narcissa a hug.  
  
James and Lily switched places and Lily kissed Lucius' cheek and James kissed Narcissa's, then pulling them into hugs.  
  
Noise heard outside disrupted their reunion, and Narcissa and Lucius waved, then apparated to the huge garden outside Godric's Hollow, to wait until Voldemort had gone.  
  
Lily and James continued to play cards, acting as if nothing would happen. But of course, it did.  
  
The windows started to rattle and the door was slammed open, revealing Lord Voldemort, clad in black, wand raised.  
  
"Lily! Take Harry and run!" James shouted, before Voldemort hissed,  
  
"Avada Kedavra!" and James fell to the floor, dead, or so Voldemort thought.  
  
Lily was next; she was running through the house, trying, but not trying to escape Voldemort. She pleaded and pleaded for Voldemort to take her, not Harry, so he did, and Lily heard the words before Voldemort said them.  
  
"Avada Kedavra!"  
  
Lily fell to the floor, still holding Harry in her arms. Voldemort advanced on Harry, pointing his wand at him, and said the two words, quick and simple.  
  
"Avada Kedavra."  
  
But it didn't work. The curse backfired, hitting Voldemort square in the chest. He writhed in pain, but did not die. He backed out of the front door, clutching his chest, saying to the house, "I'll get you Harry Potter. I will." And with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.  
  
Running as fast as they could into the house, Lucius and Narcissa ran to James and Lily's sides.  
  
"James! Are you ok?" Lucius said to James.  
  
"I'm fine, Lucius, is Lily?" James answered.  
  
"I'm not sure, Narcissa went to her. NARCISSA?! Is Lily ok?!" Lucius called to Narcissa, who was in the kitchen with Lily.  
  
"She's fine, Lucius, how's James?" Narcissa answered.  
  
"He's fine as well. And Harry? How's he?" Lucius called back.  
  
"Harry's doing great, except for this hideous scar on his forehead, in the shape of a lightning bolt," Narcissa said, sighing.  
  
"Alright, let's get you guys out of here and to the manor. Hagrid is coming, he'll take Harry," Lucius said, helping James up.  
  
Just as they were coming out of the door, Hagrid showed up on the doorstep, looking grave.  
  
"I'm real sorry fer doing this to ya, Lily, James. But it's fer the best," Hagrid said, reassuringly, as he took Harry from Lily's outstretched arms. "I hope ter see ya again soon, now take care."  
  
When Hagrid was gone, Lily, James, Narcissa, and Lucius apparated to Malfoy Manor, and Lucius and Narcissa showed James and Lily an area of the dungeons that had a fireplace and double bed set up. There was also a bookshelf filled with books and an owl was perched in a cage in the center of the room.  
  
"Enjoy your stay you two, Narcissa or I will be down once every morning with food, and on Saturdays we will bring new bed sheets. I wish you could stay upstairs with us but it would be too hard." Lucius said.  
  
And with that, they walked out of the room, closing the door behind them./I  
  
"I remember how sad Hagrid was when he brought Harry to the Dursley's, and he couldn't stand the fact that you would have to grow up with Muggles who didn't even like you," Dumbledore concluded, looking at Harry with sympathy.  
  
Hermione was openly crying by this time, and Ron was holding her. Draco looked intrigued by the whole issue, and Harry looked enraged.  
  
"WHY WASN'T I TOLD THAT MY PARENTS WERE ALIVE??!! DON'T I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW??!!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Harry, calm down!" Dumbledore said. "It just wouldn't have been safe."  
  
Harry was breathing deeply as he backed into his chair again, and put his head in his hands.  
  
"You four will be going to Professor Lupin's hideout tomorrow, I would suggest packing your bags and getting ready to go," Dumbledore informed them.  
  
They nodded, and stood up to leave, and after bidding Dumbledore good bye, they walked out.  
  
Draco walked alone back to the Slytherin Common Room, contemplating his life. His parents had lied to him, kept the Potter's in the dungeons of the house he lived in, and he hadn't known at all.  
  
***  
  
When Draco had finished packing for the following day, he curled up in his bed, and, thankful for having his own room, he cried. Draco Malfoy cried. And not just soft sobs, but loud cries of anguish. And the worst part of it was, he knew why he was crying. It was not because his parents had lied to him, or because he was going to have to spend a long while with Potter, Weasley, and Granger. But it was because he felt an attraction unlike any other toward Potter. A strong attraction, one of lust and desire, one he had been denying for a long time. But now it was time to face reality, and realize that he, Draco Malfoy, was in love with Harry Potter.  
  
A/N: I understand that the characters may seem a bit OoC, but it will all work out. Things may seem unexplained, that will be explained in different chapters. Thanks to my reviewers, Anonymous, Diana Malfoy, Mandy, and Lyrics Angel. Again, please review!  
  
Luv and peace,  
  
HeavenzDevil 


	3. A New Home

Title: Filling The Emptiness  
  
Author: HeavenzDevil  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: A secret kept from Draco by his father is revealed when Draco receives a letter telling him he must go to a secret house with the trio because Voldemort is after him, his family, the trio, and - Lily and James Potter?! A fic where Lily and James are alive, Lucius and Narcissa are not Death Eaters, and Draco and Harry are learning a LOT of new things about each other.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and the rest of the characters do not belong to me. But may I point out that my story does not belong to you, so there!  
  
WARNING: This story is about love between two boys. If you find this wrong, disgusting, or gross, I would highly suggest not reading this. Don't flame me for something you have been warned about.  
  
Author Notes: The rating on this story right now is PG-13 but it could get higher in later chapters. Thanks a bunch to my beta readers Expelliarmus, CrisyGrl, and RedLotus for all their help. This story would not exist without them. I luv u guys!  
  
Filling The Emptiness - Part II  
  
"A New Home"  
  
At 5:00 the next morning, four sleepy teens stood yawning and practically falling asleep on each other's shoulders in the office of Headmaster Dumbledore. Harry, in his green top and oversized jeans, had resorted to leaning against the wall and trying to fall back to sleep.  
  
Draco noted with annoyance that he should be back in bed at 5:00 in the morning, not waiting for a werewolf to go gallivanting off to some hideout with Harry and his friends, Weasel, and the Mudblood. He cursed his parents for doing this to him. He sighed, and dismissed the previous day's behavior as initial shock, and got back to being his witty, sarcastic self.  
  
Ten very long minutes later, the fire in the fireplace flickered and out tumbled Remus Lupin, coughing slightly and dusting off his robes.  
  
"Ah, Harry, wonderful to see you again!" he said, shaking Harry's hand. "Hermione, Ron," he said, nodding to each of them in turn. "Mr. Malfoy, how. nice to see you again," said Lupin, turning his gaze on Draco. Draco winced, but showed no other sign of being uncomfortable.  
  
"Where's Dumbledore?" Ron asked.  
  
"He's. well, I'm not exactly sure where he is, but we are not waiting to find out. We need to get to the hideout as quick as possible, so you are going to go by floo, and when you step into the fire, you will need to shout 'Padfoot's Hideaway,' alright?" Lupin asked.  
  
Draco nodded along with the other three, and yawned tiredly, trying to stay awake.  
  
Lupin told Harry to go first, and gently shoved him toward the fireplace, placing floo powder in his hand. Harry threw the powder into the flames, and shouted, "Padfoot's Hideaway!" and vanished.  
  
Lupin nodded toward Hermione, who went next, followed by Ron. Then it was Draco's turn. He threw in the floo powder and stepped into the fire, yelling, "Padfoot's Hideaway!"  
  
He spun around going past various fireplaces, until he felt himself slowing down, and finally stopping, falling out of a fireplace in a small cottage. He got up and brushed himself off, stepping away from the fireplace and looking around. The cottage was definitely small, it only had two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. But what do you expect for living in a hideout?  
  
Then, Draco heard voices coming from one of the bedrooms. He went to the one where the voices were being heard, and stopped outside the door. Potter, Weasley, and Granger could be heard talking, and Draco didn't want to "interrupt" them. Pressing his ear against the closed door, Draco listened to their conversation.  
  
"Why do I have to share the bedroom with him??!! I HATE HIM!!" That was Weasley, of course.  
  
"Ron, calm down!" The mudblood.  
  
"Yeah, Ron, if it's that big of a deal for you, I'll share the bedroom with him, for crying out loud!" And that was Harry. Draco sighed, then waltzed into the room.  
  
"Hello, Gryffindors, was there a party that I was not aware of?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows and smirking.  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy, here's the deal: Ron and Hermione are going to share a bedroom, and you and I will, you got it?" Harry asked, in a take-charge matter.  
  
"Whatever floats your boat, Potter," Draco said, although secretly glad he would get to share a room with Harry.  
  
Just then, in walked Lupin, and following behind him was. Sirius Black?! Draco gasped in surprise as his jaw dropped open.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, I know what you are thinking," began Black, regarding Harry, Hermione, and Ron with a nod, "But I am not a killer, as your father, may have told you. I am innocent." Sirius said, and looked down at the floor, in remembrance.  
  
"Why should I believe you? Why should I believe any of you?" Draco asked, getting frustrated with all the news everyone was piling onto him.  
  
"You have every right not to believe us, but we would both strongly suggest you do. Your parents and Harry's parents are in grave danger at this very moment and we all need to get to them as fast as possible, while still being safe," Lupin said warily.  
  
"Harry, Ron, I need both of you to come outside with Remus and I, we are going to go through the woods for a while, we need to find. something very important." Sirius said. "Hermione, Draco, you both will need to stay here, we are expecting a very important owl from Nelon, our owl. Also, it would be greatly appreciated if you straightened up the cabin a bit, we need to be neat. And one more thing. NO MAGIC." Sirius finished, looking at all of them, eyeing them each in turn.  
  
The four teens nodded, and Remus, Sirius, Harry, and Ron walked out of the cottage and Draco and Hermione walked into the bedroom, thinking they would straighten it up while waiting for the owl.  
  
This is going to be a long afternoon, thought Draco, sighing, before getting to work on making up his bed and dusting the dressers with a wet towel. No magic. I wonder why.  
  
A/N: Thanks a bunch to last chapters reviewers, KittenBabyGirl, Yoink Daydurfurits, ChristinaLupin01442, bthatcher2002, Lyric's Angel, Rei the Genki-Chan. I luv u guys, thanks for your awesome reviews!  
  
Luv, Rachael xoxo 


	4. The Talk

Filling The Emptiness - Part III  
  
"The Talk"  
  
About five minutes later, Draco, who had never cleaned anything in his life without the help of magic, threw his hands up in the air and swept out of the room to return two seconds later with his wand in hand.  
  
"Malfoy! You can't use magic!" Hermione shrieked at him.  
  
"Oh yeah, Mudblood?" Draco said, looking at her with challenge in his eyes. "Just watch me." And with a swift wave of his wand and a word muttered under his breath, the room was shining and sparkling to perfection.  
  
"MALFOY! WHAT DID YOU DO! YOU KNOW WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE MAGIC!" Hermione yelled, waving her hands at him and shooting death glares.  
  
"Who cares, Granger, no one is going to know, as long as you don't tell anyone. You won't tell anyone, will you?" Draco asked, starting to get scared as the reality of what he had just done sunk in.  
  
"I have to tell Remus and Sirius. They have to know, because they obviously don't want us using magic for a reason," Hermione said, and started to pace the floor.  
  
Draco sighed and sat on the bed. She was right, though; he shouldn't have used magic. But who wants to clean, anyway? He thought to himself. Cleaning is boring as hell and takes up valuable time. He leaned his head down onto the pillow. Why had his parents done this to him? He had never done anything wrong. Okay, so that was a huge understatement, but did that mean they had to keep something this important from him?  
  
From across the room, Draco saw Hermione look at him. He could see pity in her eyes, but at this point he didn't really care. He wanted to go back to Hogwarts and attempt to continue living somewhat normally, but he knew that wouldn't happen.  
  
Hermione moved toward him, and put her hand on top of his.  
  
"Malfoy?" she said.  
  
Draco nodded at her to continue.  
  
"You know, Harry has had to go through all this too, and he had to have all this hidden from him as well. And, well. maybe if you two talked things over, you could work something out between the both of you. I mean, you will be living together and sharing a room for who knows how long, and you really should come to some sort of an agreement and I think that we all need to get to know each other better. I only hated you because Harry and Ron hated you and because of all those "Mudblood" comments and other things you have done over the past years. But I think that deep down, you are probably just scared and are exactly like us, but you conceal it, which we don't do." Hermione looked at Draco with eyes full of wisdom beyond her 15 years. But Draco knew that Granger had gone through a lot more than he himself had gone through.  
  
"I guess," was all Draco said. "But it would be so hard for me to even talk civilly to him without letting something slip. The only way I know how to act around him is either being a bastard or not talking to him at all," Draco thought. Or rather, he thought he thought. But Hermione gave him a weird look and said, "What might slip?"  
  
OH NO! He had been thinking aloud. Oh man, this is double shit. If Granger finds out about my little infatuation with Harry, I don't know what I'd do.Draco thought, furious at himself.  
  
"Nothing, Granger," he said in what he thought was a casual tone. Apparently it had come out more of a frightful tone, and Hermione rested her gaze on him and said, "Okay, Malfoy. Spill. What is going on with you?"  
  
Draco looked at Hermione, her face forming into a look of intrigue. He sighed, defeated.  
  
"If this conversation ever goes past us, I'll kill you, you got it?" Draco asked.  
  
"Got it, Malfoy, now tell me what is happening," Hermione said, sitting down on the bed beside Draco, ready for a long story.  
  
"Well." Draco started off. "I don't remember when exactly, but somewhere along the lines I developed a little. thing for Harry. First I was scared of it, I mean, how many people out there love members of the same sex?"  
  
"Lots," Hermione interjected. "Please continue."  
  
"Anyway, I was scared, and I tried to force it out of my system. I went back to Pansy and started hanging around her again, which only made the whole situation worse because Pansy is annoying and stupid, so I gave it up and just realized I was infatuated with Harry. It became like a normal thing every morning to look at the Gryffindor Table, sneak a glance at Harry, then turn it into a glare when he stared back at me. I was really well with hiding what I felt, and no one ever questioned me about looking at the Gryffindors too much, and no doubt you noticed, but I stopped picking so many fights."  
  
Hermione nodded at this. She had noticed that Malfoy had laid off on the fights until one particular day, where he had just come up to them. But Draco had started talking again.  
  
"Then, right after the feast last year, I was planning on telling Harry that I sort of liked him, but when I came up to you three, Weasley freaked out and started throwing punches. I, of course, punched back because what am I supposed to do? Just lie there and let him kill me? I think not. Anyway, that was the last I thought about telling Harry how I felt. I would just have to watch from afar."  
  
Hermione stared at him. She stared at Draco for a long time, trying to see past those cold, silvery gray eyes, and finally, she said, "Oh."  
  
"Is that all you have to say about my story? My heart-wrenching, terrifying, sad, love story?" He put on a look of mock hurt.  
  
Hermione laughed, slapped him playfully on the arm, and said, "You know, I'm sorry for what has happened all these years, and like I said before, maybe we can all just start over."  
  
Draco smiled, and was about to respond when he heard the front door bang open. Into the room ran Sirius, Remus, Ron, and Harry, all looking very scared.  
  
"Okay, which one of you used magic?" Sirius said, looking worried.  
  
"I did," Draco said, standing up to face Sirius.  
  
"I told you both no magic! Oh damn, this is bad," Sirius said.  
  
Remus and Sirius both began pacing the room, until what seemed like hours later, when Remus said to Sirius, "We will have to take them now. We have no other choice, Voldemort will find us if we don't leave soon." He turned to the four teens. "All four of you need to pack your bags, we are leaving in 15 minutes. Did Nelon, the owl come?"  
  
A soft tapping was heard on the window. Outside of it was Nelon, clutching a scroll of parchment. Remus went to the window, letting the owl in and giving it a treat before taking the scroll and sending it off. Remus walked over to Sirius and they looked at the scroll together. They both read it while Draco and the Trio went to pack up.  
  
Ten minutes later, they were all standing in front of the fireplace again, ready to go.  
  
To Sirius, Remus said, "The first stop is the Fire Forest. Do you really think that they can go through it? It's kind of dangerous."  
  
"They will be fine. They are old enough to know what to do. Besides, they can use magic there, so it will be easier for everyone."  
  
"Okay, when you step into the fire this time, say 'Fire Forest' then when you fall out of the fire, immediately cover yourself with a protection charm, which will appear as a pink bubble around you. You'll have to say 'Protenictus' for the charm to work. Now get going, we don't have a lot of time, and wait for instructions before moving on, okay?" Remus said this all very fast, a look of fear still on his face.  
  
Everyone nodded, and the Trio went first, followed by Draco.  
  
The first thing Draco saw when he got out of the fireplace, was miles and miles all around him, every last inch covered in red, orange, and yellow flames.  
  
A/N: I absolutely LOVE this chapter! I didn't have to work really hard on it either, it just sort of came to me. Thanks a bunch to last chapters reviewers, I luv u all!  
  
Luv, Rachael xoxo 


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